Rambo

Now we have come to the finale of “Rambo Month,” where I will be looking at the latest in the series, “Rambo,” released in 2008.

This is absolutely surreal since it was 20 years later that a new Rambo movie was released. You would think that there would be a lot of hype, but this one snuck quietly into theaters in January of 2008. I liked that the movie was released then because no movie seems to live up to its hype, so the best option is not to have hype.

If you saw the trailers before this movie came out, you know what you were going to get: a violent war movie. James Rolfe called this film an epic masterpiece when looking at the technical achievements. Everyone who saw this movie talked about the amount of blood spilled in this movie, which is no joke. James Rolfe said, “If you have seen a lot of zombie movies, it’s not that gory, but compare it to any other war movie, this one takes the cake. It makes ‘Saving Private Ryan’ look like, I don’t know, ‘Bouncing Bears from Heaven’.” If you remember in the past Rambo movies, people would fall down after getting shot, but here, their bodies just piece apart. In the previous Rambo movies when people would blow up, they would explode into a fiery explosion, but in this movie, their bodies would surge into puddles of blood. Machetes slice through villains, arms get cut, legs get cut, heads get cut, it’s madness. Picture what "The Expendables" movies would have looked like with the amount of blood spilled in this movie. That's what will be going through your head when watching this movie.

Remember when I mentioned the “Bloodiest Movie Ever” joke that “Hot Shots Part Deux” made? Well, if the Zucker Brothers and Jim Abrams were ever to reunite and make a third “Hot Shots” movie, then they should because that joke could not be outdated after seeing “Rambo.”

James Rolfe criticized the story for being a little lacking and had him wondering what he saw after watching it, but said that it’s not completely shallow. Even though there isn’t any good dialogue, Rambo does say a lot with his expressions. A lot of times he would give a cold stare and a bass rumble would follow. There’s a speech he gave that said, “When you’re pushed, killing is as easy as breathing.” He also says, “Live for nothing or die for something.”

When I rate this movie, I don’t think it’s close to being as good as “First Blood” was, but much like with “Rocky Balboa,” this one is the best of the sequels. Two and three felt really polished, but “Rambo” was raw and dark with a lot of shaky camera movements. The camera moved around a lot, pulled focus, making it feel like you were watching a documentary, making it feel like the realist of the movies.

Stallone is not shirtless in this movie, showing off his muscles, there are no one-liners in this movie, and it’s just a No Holds Barred, down-to-Earth action flick.

Much like later on in the “Rocky” movies where you missed Burgess Meredith as Mickey, here you will miss Richard Crenna as Colonel Trautman, who was, as I noted before in my review of the first movie, the classic mentor figure. I’m sure Stallone would have given Crenna a small part in this movie, but he does appear in flashbacks, which are clips from the previous movies. There isn’t really any mention of Trautman, but there isn’t really any mention of the previous movies. By calling this “Rambo” makes the movie stand on its own. James Rolfe said, “If this wasn’t Rambo but was some other guy in the same movie, I don’t think there would be much interest. The reason why I went to see it was because it was Rambo. I was a child when the first three movies came out, so to see a fresh new one in the theater was a real treat.”

If you’re a Rambo fan, definitely see this movie. This may not be the most well-written film ever, but you shouldn’t be disappointed.

Maung Maung Khin plays a ruthless military officer, Paul Schulze plays a missionary, Julie Benz plays the love interest, and Ken Howard plays a pastor. This one takes place in Thailand on the Burmese border.

One sad note is that Stallone told Variety recently that he is officially retiring the Rambo character, especially after years of talks of making a fifth movie. I personally would have loved to have seen a new Rambo, and I'm sad that he's done with the character, but maybe after "Creed," Stallone felt that he shouldn't revive his famous characters repeatedly, or people would feel they would be getting stale. However, I do hear of talks on a TV show, or maybe a focus on Rambo's son. As sad as I am that a fifth Rambo is never going to be made, I am happy that a fifth Spy Kids and a sequel to the 2015 "Fantastic Four" have been scrapped (thank you!).

Well, that ends “Rambo Month.” I hope everyone enjoyed this month of reviews as much as I did making them. Stay tuned next month for “Black History Movie Month” Part 4.

Rambo III

Alright everyone, the time has finally arrived. It’s now time to look at the worst entry in the Rambo series, “Rambo III,” released in 1988.

The movie starts with Colonel Trautman returning to Thailand to once again ask Rambo to go on another mission, and witnesses his stick fighting match, which Rambo wins at. Afterwards, Trautman approaches Rambo at a temple where Rambo is helping build and asks Rambo to accompany Trautman on a mission to Afghanistan to help them against the Soviets. Rambo refuses and Trautman goes off on his own.

Later, Rambo finds out from embassy field officer Robert Griggs (Kurtwood Smith) that Trautman and his army have been kidnapped by the Soviets, led by commanding officer Zaysen (Marc de Jonge) and his henchmen Kourov (Randy Raney). As a result, Rambo immediately flies to Pakistan where he meets Mousa (Sasson Gabai) who agrees to take him to an Afghan desert that is close to where Trautman is held captive, and Rambo is helped by only Mousa and a young boy named Hamid (Doudi Shoua).

Now the problem with this movie is that the political side of it is somewhat complicated and very dated. However, this movie is fun, but not for the right reasons. I say that because the entire movie is filled with one-liners. Everything that is said has a funny comeback from Rambo, Trautman, Mousa and Hamid. There isn’t that much dialogue in this movie, which is fine, but for making this one the way it was, felt boring.

For those who have seen the movie, you might remember the final action sequence. It’s one of the most ridiculous finales in the action genre. Tanks, helicopters, and guns that are shooting at Rambo and Trautman from every conceivable direction, but they stand in the middle of all this pandemonium and not even get one bullet. How is that possible!? If you were to see that part, you would agree that it makes no sense!! It’s like in Tim Burton’s “Batman,” which came out a year later, when Batman was in the Bat-Wing and shoots Joker with everything that he has, but for some reason, misses him, even though Batman had Joker locked in target. At least there, the comedic factor worked since we all know that it’s a comic book adaptation and comic books have a lot of humor in it. Here, this is supposed to be a tough action franchise and made it into a joke with this sequel.

All of the problems I listed are what makes classic movie entertainment, but in all honesty, everyone will say the same thing, this is easily the worst in the series.

Speaking of which, have you noticed that Stallone seems to love making movies around the time of the Cold War? Was he trying to ease the tension in some sort of a way? Well, I do give him credit for doing a better job in “Rocky IV,” but here, I have no idea what they were thinking. If they were trying to do more to ease the tension between the USA and the Soviets, then this one didn’t work at all. If you get the opportunity to pass this one up, then do so. However, if you want to see how bad it is, then go ahead. I will just say this movie doesn’t even belong in the “So Bad It’s Good” category, sorry. I will say that I do give the Zucker Brothers and Jim Abrams a tip of the hat for also parodying this movie in "Hot Shots: Part Deux." That's what I liked about those classic parody movies because I saw them before I saw the actual movies they were spoofing, and I got all the jokes. They made it so that you didn't have to see the movies they were parodying to get the jokes, but I digress.

For 20 years after this movie was released, there was no mention of Rambo anywhere. I bet people might have thought if Stallone left the series alone after how bad the third one was received. Actually, the second movie got a 28% on Rotten Tomatoes and this one got a 36%. Why is that? Did people love the fact that they turned Rambo into a joke!? If anything, this one had more racial problems in it than the second one did! How could people like this one better!? Well, what can you do? Just watch the movie and decide if you like it or not.

Don’t think that this was the last in the series. Next week we are going to look at the final entry in the Rambo series with the fourth and final installment. Check in for that because I’m really excited to review that for the finale of “Rambo Month.”

Rambo: First Blood Part II

Wow, I can’t believe it. The year has just begun and I’m already at my 400^th review. Isn’t that something? Just like how I have done with every other time, I will treat this review with care, so let’s get started.

Next up in “Rambo Month” is “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” released in 1985. This one starts with Rambo a year into his sentence, but Trautman offers him the opportunity to return to Vietnam to rescue American war prisoners still in captivity. The man in charge of this operation is Marshall Murdock, played by the late Charles Napier, who is shown as a corrupt political man who doesn’t want to tell the truth. Murdock’s right-hand men are freelance contractors named Ericson (Martin Kove from the “Karate Kid” trilogy) and Lifer (Steve Williams). This is the movie that made Rambo into the more traditional action hero.

The action scenes in this movie are good. Also, Rambo is starting to become human again, especially with a love interest in this movie with a Vietnamese woman named Co-Bao, played by Julia Nickson, who works for an intelligence agency. Unfortunately, the relationship doesn’t work out for Rambo, and if you want to know what I mean, then you have to watch the movie because I cannot spoil it for you. In a way, you could compare this to other movies where an American falls in love with an Oriental girl, like “The Karate Kid Part II” and “3 Ninjas Kick Back.” However, the only difference is that the relationship in this movie doesn’t turn out too well.

Another thing I have to mention is the ending, which is another great one. Rambo basically tells Trautman how he was going to become human again, but found out that he could trust no one. However, he still trusts Trautman. You could basically understand the dialogue between the two since you are rooting for Rambo to become down-to-earth again, but unfortunately, with everything that happened, things didn’t go as planned.

In a way, this is the most classic movie in the franchise, since James Rolfe mentioned that most of the video games were based on this movie and it was parodied the most. For instance, if you watched the Zucker Brothers and Jim Abrams masterpiece comedy, “Hot Shots Part Deux,” there’s a scene where the group is shooting all these civilians and there’s a counter at the bottom corner of the screen where the counter keeps going up even when the camera isn’t showing people getting shot. The movie goes on to say that it’s equal to “RoboCop” and “Total Recall” and declaring that it’s “The Bloodiest Movie Ever.” The joke is still hilarious to this day. Wait until we continue in the series to know how that joke becomes old-fashioned.

In my opinion, this movie isn’t anywhere near as good as “First Blood.” That doesn’t mean that it’s a bad movie, far from it. However, my brother noted that in the sequels, there was some racist stuff that occurred, much like how he noted the racism in the “Indiana Jones” series. I don’t see it, but maybe I didn’t dwell into it as much as he did. Maybe he has a way of noting these things better than I do, but I can see where he is coming from. Still, this is a good sequel, so if you liked the first movie, then you should definitely see this one. I recommend it because it’s a more humanizing movie for Rambo, since he was about to get back into basics but circumstances didn’t allow him to do that. It’s sad, but I believe that we all have had that happened to us.

Hold on to your seats because next week is going to be a train wreck. What I mean to say is that we will be looking at the worst entry in the series, which is one that I will not be looking forward to. I’ll just have to brace myself as well because it will not be a movie I want to review. That’s not to say that I enjoyed reviewing all the other bad sequels I looked at, and this one isn’t the worst sequel I have seen.

Just stay tuned for the next entry in “Rambo Month,” even though I know we are all not looking forward to it.

First Blood

Since I have just finished “Rocky Week,” a franchise that led Stallone to such success, I think that it would be appropriate to talk about another franchise that Stallone starred in that everyone remembers him for, the “Rambo” franchise. To kick off “Rambo Month,” let’s get started with the first film in the franchise, “First Blood,” released in 1982.

The basic story of this movie is that Vietnam War veteran John Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone, returns home from the war and walks to one of his old friend’s house. When he arrives, he finds out that his friend was exposed to Agent Orange which caused him to have cancer and die. Things start to get worse when Rambo is mistreated by Sheriff Will Teasle, played by Brian Dennehy, who takes him to headquarters and interrogates the man. This police department is led by a cruel chief deputy named Art Galt, played by Jack Starrett, and Rambo ends up in his own personal war where he is taking on the entire police force. It started out as a small feud but escalated into a complete war of one man against the police.

I consider this film one of the greatest action movies I have ever seen. This movie doesn’t show Rambo as a good guy taking on bad guys, like the usual “good guy vs. bad guy scenario,” or showing him as a hero or anti-hero, he’s just a livid war veteran wanting revenge. James Rolfe described this film as a “strategy action film.” Don’t think this movie is going to show you how many things Rambo blows up in 90 minutes, it’s all about the suspense that is being built and the character. Just seeing Rambo set up the traps or the decoys and hone in on his enemies is just brilliant. So you can see that Rambo isn’t using brute force, but goes into stealth-mode by setting up the traps and using all sorts of survival tactics. Also, Rambo doesn't really have many lines at the beginning of the movie, but does get more as the movie progresses.

Another person I've got to mention is the late and amazing actor for his time, Richard Crenna, playing Rambo’s mentor Colonel Sam Trautman. He was another classic mentor character in this series for Rambo, similarly how Mickey was to Rocky. I just love it when Trautman says to the officer, “I don't think you understand. I didn't come to rescue Rambo from you. I came here to rescue you from him.” This line proves that Trautman is the only one who knows and understands Rambo since he has been with him for a long time and can be the only man that can calm him down, like how Betty Ross could calm Bruce Banner down when he turned into the Hulk.

You can watch this movie, and those of you who have been in a war can guess that Rambo is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is a combat condition where a soldier’s nervous system has been stressed to its absolute peak and maximum where it can’t take any more input. The nervous system has either snapped or is about to snap. In case anyone is wondering, no, I’ve never been in the military. I have to thank George Carlin for educating me on that condition, since he was in the Air Force for some time, but got kicked out and got the G.I. Bill on honorary terms. I’m not kidding, watch his interviews, he admits it.

Getting back on topic, there is one more thing I have to mention: the ending. Now you might consider this a spoiler, but anyone who reviews this film has to feel obligated to talk about that last scene. Stallone gives one of his best dramatic monologues. Up until then, he was doing a great job and now he delivers the most dramatic monologue of his career. How often do we see an action hero get emotional, break down and cry like Rambo did? This movie is emotional as it is action-packed.

If you haven’t seen this movie, forget reading my review of it. Go out and see it, it’s a must. This is another one of my favorite movies ever because I just love every minute of it. For an action film, this did something new that I hadn’t seen at the time, and I love it. You just have to see this to believe everything.

This movie is based on the 1972 David Morrell novel of the same name. Since this film was successful, it started a franchise, which had three sequels, an animated series, comic books, and a novel. “First Blood” is also considered a cult classic, so you must see it.

Next week I will be looking at the first sequel in the franchise. Since I have been posting reviews every day since December, now I believe I need a week vacation before I post the next review next week and get back to my weekly Friday posts. I deserve it, so I will see you all next Friday with the second installment in “Rambo Month.”

Rocky Week Part 7

It has been nearly 40 years since we first met Rocky Balboa. “Rocky” won the Best Picture Oscar for 1976 and had five sequels, the most recent in 2006. Sylvester Stallone thought that “Rocky Balboa” would be the final chapter for the character that brought him all this popularity, but young filmmaker Ryan Coogler (a lifelong fan of the films) had another idea. For the first time ever, Stallone did not write the script, which was given credit to Coogler and Aaron Covington. Pete Hammond said in his review, “As I say in my video review, this is not your father’s Rocky movie but a whole re-invention centered on the previously unknown illegitimate son of past Balboa opponent Apollo Creed.”

Hammond went on to say, “Michael B. Jordan, who worked with Coogler in on the 2013 indie sensation Fruitvale Station, takes on the part of Adonis Creed, and the character is a nice twist on the original Creed.” He never knew his father, who died before he was born. He’s an unstable kid, raised in a great household thanks to being adopted by Creed’s widow, played by Claire Huxtable the lawyer and Ruth Lucas herself, Phylicia Rashad, nicely understated, who finds out who his father was, and soon realizes he’s got his dad’s boxing DNA. This takes him to Philadelphia and the restaurant now run by Rocky with a journey to make him his boxing trainer. After disagreeing to his wishes to become a corner man, Rocky returns to the boxing realm he left behind.

Hammond said it best when he said, “Coogler has cleverly turned the tables, and this Creed is the underdog with heart that we find ourselves pulling for against fearsome opponents in the ring.” Actually, all of his opponents are professional boxers in real life, including three-time ABA heavyweight champion Anthony Bellew. Even though the film follows a different formula set in stone by Stallone almost 40 years ago, it has its own heart and soul and could be the start of a new series of films focused on Adonis. The boxing sequences are amazing; including one of the first that is pretty much one big shot with great particular camera work (cinematographer is Maryse Alberti, who shot “The Wrestler”). Hammond mentioned, “There’s a gritty indie feel to much of what Coogler gets on the screen, but he hasn’t forsaken what we — and he — loved about the Rocky legacy. It has just been passed to the NextGen, with the exception of giving a meaty, moving supporting role to Stallone, who delivers his best screen work since, well, his Oscar-nominated turn that introduced us to Rocky Balboa in 1976.”

It definitely is hard to keep redoing the storyline but somehow Coogler, Jordan and Stallone have done it with “Creed,” released back in November, which ends up in an entertaining and satisfying new chapter. I should almost mention Tessa Thompson, who plays Bianca, a singer who is the romantic interest for Adonis, similarly how Adrian was there for Rocky.

Hammond noted, “Stallone hasn’t totally left his behind-the-scenes involvement, serving as a producer along with original producers Irwin Winkler and the late Robert Chartoff plus Charles Winkler, William Chartoff, David Winkler and Kevin King Templeton.” MGM and Warner Bros along with New Line Cinema are the producing companies for the movie.

Michael B. Jordan, you have officially washed “Fantastic Four” out of your system. You have quickly come back with a great movie, which was one of the best movies that came out last year. The first one gave you the Italian side of Philadelphia, with this one you get to see the African-American side of Philadelphia.

The theater experience was one of the best I ever had. Well, except for the fact that during the training scene, the screen went black. A few people had to go out to tell the ushers, they apologized, rewinded the movie to the beginning of the training montage once the movie came back on the screen, and we continued. It’s strange because I have gone to this theater so many times, and this never happened. However, the reaction from the crowd was just phenomenal. During the boxing matches, everyone was getting into the movie and making reactions during the shots, which you feel the weight of the punch when they make contact. I haven’t had this experience of everyone getting into the movie in a long time. This movie really surprised me, especially since I heard Stallone was thinking of making a seventh movie, but I thought the series was done. Stallone did say that he was thinking of making the seventh Rocky about getting older than about boxing, which sounded like a nice idea. If they go on with this series but have Adonis as the central force, I won’t mind. Just leave the Rocky character alone now since I don't see what more can be done with the character.

If you missed the chance to see this in theaters, and there is a theater that is playing “Creed,” I highly recommend everyone go out to see it. If it’s not, than wait for the DVD to be released and rent it or buy it, it’s that good of a movie. I promise you, you will love it.

Well, that ends “Rocky Week.” I hope all of you enjoyed it, and I feel relieved now that I have talked about all of the Rocky movies. Check in tomorrow to see what I will review for the rest of the month, which will be returning to my regular Friday reviews.

Rocky Week Part 6

After “Rocky 5,” no one even thought that there would be another sequel, and Stallone himself denied of any plans. In the 90s, the series was laid to rest, but the first half of the 2000s proved that things change, ideas mature and as the movie’s tagline says, “It ain’t over tell it’s over.” As soon as the movie was announced, the jokes started kicking in. However, it was nice that in 2006, “Rocky Balboa” came out for those who wanted to see the series with an adult perspective. Plus, Stallone is back in the directing chair.

You could be disappointed that this movie does not start out the same way the others did, which started with a recap of the previous movies. However, to call it “Rocky Balboa,” lets it stand on its own. Although if I remember correctly, I think there are flashbacks that are shown from all five movies.

The movie starts off with Rocky at a cemetery sitting in front of Adrian’s grave. She has passed on and you can see in the movie the pain that Rocky is going through since she was the only girl he loved. This brings Rocky back to basics, and he's also growing distant from his son, played by Milo Anthony Ventimiglia from the show “Heroes,” who is working in one of the modern Philadelphia buildings, which is a perfect decision that Stallone made.

Rocky now runs a restaurant under Adrian’s name while telling customers his boxing stories and spends his free time walking around Philadelphia reflecting on his boxing days. I know he did that in the last movie, but Stallone hated that so this movie acts like 5 never existed. It’s hard to start a movie with this sad tone, but this is right for the series because if you love the franchise, it will draw you in. You feel sentimental for this character so you can imagine if you were in his place.

Paulie is still bitter and working in his meat factory, but does eventually get laid off and spends more time with Rocky. Duke is also back in this movie, and he hasn’t lost his funny edge at all. If you remember in the first movie when Rocky walked Marie home but she told him off, she is back in this movie, now played by Geraldine Hughes. You can find it disturbing when in the first movie when he asked her if she had a boyfriend, and now she is kissing him, especially since she has a son, played by James Francis Kelly III. However, she brings him a picture of Adrian and this proves that Rocky is still in love with her and no one can replace her.

Now the plot to this movie is that a computer-generated fight shows Rocky winning a match against current boxing champion, Mason “The Line” Dixion, played by real-life boxer Antonio Tarver. Everyone gets curious if that could happen, Mason gets furious and wants to fight him, and people start approaching Rocky about the fight. He decides to go back, but his son doesn’t want him to do that, which he gives an inspirational speech that “Life ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” This is one of my favorite speeches in any movies. We don’t want him to step in the ring especially since we haven’t seen him box since the fourth movie and we are concerned for him. Speaking of which, he’s stepping back in the ring, but what happened to his bad eye and his brain damage? Why do they keep writing off his injuries?

This proves how unlikely this movie was going to be made. Many people didn’t even want to see this just because Stallone was 60 at the time. Wow, that’s a nice excuse. It’s not like he is aware of this and even refers to this in the public conferences. The age is the main force of this movie, he’s not trying to act young like a lot of old actors try to do. This movie is very much like the first one, where in that one Rocky was the underdog trying to rise to the challenge; here he is trying to make a comeback while ignoring all of the jokes proving that life is too short to be worrying about what others think. This is depressing, but it does lift your spirits and makes you feel good. He even makes a speech in front of court to argue on getting his license back, which is another great speech. This is no coincidence since he’s putting his real-life experience into his passionate monologues.

The reason why this movie was made was not for the success, but because Stallone really wanted to make it and put in genuine effort. It didn't come from the hands of people who wanted money, but from the man’s heart that had a difficult time trying to make this movie.

This movie does have a send off to the original song by Bill Conti’s Gonna Fly Now when he was training. At least we get the original to send this movie off with, even though Survivor came back in 2006, and their songs fit perfectly with these movies.

Lastly, we got to talk about the fight. It’s the best. I like that Mason is not shown as your typical Rocky villain, where all of them were over the top, he seems more down to Earth. He’s tough, but fair. This film's boxing match feels like a real HBO match. It’s shot in HD, you get all the stats shown, Michael Buffer is announcing it, it’s like watching a real boxing match. All of the punches are real, and Stallone suffered by making Antonio Tarver punch him repeatedly in the face. Stallone wanted to capture the realism of the movie and to do that was to make actual contact. This is the most realistic fight out of all the Rocky fights and probably the best.

If you can get over the fact that Stallone is old, you have to see this movie. It’s the best sequel in the series and one of the best comebacks of all time, filling in a 16 year gap. I highly recommend it. 

However, we are not done with the series. Tomorrow I will be looking at the latest entry in the series, “Creed,” which will be the finale to “Rocky Week.”

Rocky Week Part 5

I guess everyone can probably assume that I’m not looking forward to today’s review. The reason why is because we have now come to the weakest entry in the series, “Rocky V,” released in 1990. What more was there left to do with the series? Rocky had won the heavyweight title twice, fought opponents twice his size and defeated the strongest opponents ever.

Well, the film starts off with Rocky in the shower shaking after his fight and telling Adrian that he just wants to go home. By the way, did I mention that Talia Shire got hotter with each movie in the series? Enough of that, as soon as Rocky lands in the airport, the band, just like in the third movie, is playing the Rocky theme song. How does the band in this series know the theme song? Also, Rocky’s son, played by Stallone’s real-life son, the late Sage Stallone (I feel terrible saying that), runs up to meet him. How did he miraculously grow in between movies? How long was Rocky in Russia? In the last movie, he was just a little kid, but now he’s in his pre-teens or teenage years? That makes no sense.

Next thing that happens, Paulie had Rocky sign some tax papers that made the Balboa family lose all of their money, which is a cheap twist to make them move back to their humble roots in Philadelphia. Rocky wears his old clothes again in this movie, Adrian works at the pet store again, Paulie goes back to the meat factory, and John G. Avildsen is back as director this time around. I give them credit for bringing Rocky full circle, since 3 and 4 were action movies and Rocky’s wealth and fame moved away from the underdog character that we loved from the first movie. It would be a nice closure to the series, if not for the flaws that’s in here. Also, there is a flashback when Rocky is in the old gym when Mickey tells him, “If you ever get hurt and you feel as if you’re going down, this little angel is going to whisper in your ear and say ‘GET UP’ because Mickey loves you.” Like I have mentioned a handful of times before, this blog is going to be swearing free, so watch the original clip to know what he said.

Rocky is at a press meeting where people are asking him what his plans are. Adrian announces that he’s retired and has nothing more to prove. I would agree because how many times do you have to redo the same plot threads? When Rocky goes to the doctor, he gives him a report that shows that his brain has been damaged from his fight with Drago. However, there is an arrogant boxing promoter named George Washington Duke, played by Richard Gant, who keeps trying to get Rocky back in the ring. He even gets Rocky’s medical report, which was sworn to be kept secret, but how this promoter got it is beyond me.

A young boxer by the name of Tommy “The Machine” Gunn, played by real-life boxer, the late Tommy Morrison (man, does it suck to say that), comes to town and asks Rocky to train him, and he agrees, which is where the film starts to go downhill. Rocky is giving all of his time to Tommy and ignores his own family. His son constantly gets beat up by some bullies at school, has his jacket stolen, and his family is not doing anything about it. Adrian suggests going to the school staff to let them handle it, but Rocky and Tommy are suggesting that he fight the boy. What does Rocky Jr. do? He works out, punches the kid, and gets his jacket back. When Jr. tells Rocky what happened, Rocky says, “That’s great kid, go tell your mother that.” Hold on, what’s with the meat-headed attitude in this movie!? Violence doesn’t solve anything. Why don’t you sit the kid down and talk some sense into him? But no, they decide to constantly use the phrase, “Go for it” throughout the movie. The moral value in this movie doesn’t work at all!

Like I already mentioned, with Rocky ignoring his family and only considering Tommy as family gets old and boring really fast. That’s my main problem with this movie is that it’s boring! Rocky is ignoring his family and is spending all his time training Tommy, I get it, let’s move on! George Washington Duke is the main antagonist who is constantly hovering over Tommy, like Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. George Washington Duke gets Tommy the heavyweight title that he was so eagerly wanting, even though Rocky wanted him to wait, which makes sense. When Tommy does win the title, nobody respects him still and he’s under the shadow of Rocky.

Then the film really picks up when Tommy challenges Rocky to a street fight. Tommy punches Paulie, Rocky responds, “You knocked him down, why don’t you try knocking me down now?” George Washington Duke says, “Tommy Gunn only fights in the ring,” but Rocky says, “My ring’s outside.” Alright, now this is getting good. The street fight really helped this movie out with how over-the-top it got. Tommy punches innocent watchers and the reactions from the crowd are just hilarious, especially with Jr. shouting, “Punch him out dad, he took my room!” However, there’s no reason for this fight to happen because it doesn’t solve anything. Rocky does get his pride back, but he’s still poor and Tommy’s still the champion. However, for simple entertainment, it’s still worth checking out. Much like in “Superman III,” where I only liked the junkyard fight between good Clark Kent and evil Superman, in this movie I only like the street fight. That’s the only part I recommend, the rest of the movie is not worth checking out, but I say you can if you’d like.

Now you may think that I really hate this movie, but not entirely. I do say it’s the weakest, but the ending is the most satisfying to all of them put together. Rocky wins the street fight, George Washington Duke threatens, “Touch me pug and I’ll sue,” Rocky uppercuts the man onto a car and ask, “Sue me for what?” As funny as that line is, it’s true. How often does the villain get a simple punch?

The ending is really satisfying when Rocky and his son run up the Art Museum steps and look at the statue, Rocky takes his son inside, leaving the statue standing there, and the credits roll with a slideshow of pictures from the previous movies. I do like this ending since it really closes the series on a good note. A lot of people, like me and even Stallone hated this movie, consider this movie the weakest, which it is, but the last half-hour with the street fight is what really makes up the movie.

If you thought that the series was going to end here, think again. Check in tomorrow where we get a really satisfying closure to the series in “Rocky Week.”

Rocky Week Part 4

Alright, we have now arrived at the 1985 epic, over the top entry in the series, “Rocky IV,” which is a Christmas sports movie. The movie starts with two boxing gloves crashing at one another. The Balboas are enjoying their life with Apollo as their friend, and Paulie even has a robot that Rocky bought for him. How odd is that? I don’t know anyone today who owns a robot. Apollo is still as arrogant as he was in the first movie, and it shows when Soviet boxer, Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren, comes to town and wants a match. Apollo accepts his challenge so that he can actually win the match, or so he thinks. Drago is not a boxer to get cocky over because he is like a super-boxer who has been taking anabolic steroids and when he punches, it weighs 1850 pounds. Just like Drago’s promoter, trainer and manager, Nicolai Koloff, played by Michael Pataki, says, “Whatever he hits, he destroys.” Nostalgia Critic called Drago a video game character and is basically a giant dragon for Rocky to fight, since his last name is one letter off from "dragon." Also, the hot Dutch actress Brigitte Nielsen plays Drago’s wife, Ludmilla Vobet Drago.

Apollo’s entrance this time is Living in America, performed by the late Godfather of Soul, James Brown, which perfectly showcases his patriotic self-centeredness, as well as one of the most memorable scenes in the movie. The match is a complete tragedy since Drago actually kills Apollo at the second round. Rocky could have thrown in the towel, and even tried to convince Apollo to not fight, but Apollo is so arrogant that he didn’t even listen to his friend. You could call Drago heartless when he says, “If he dies, he dies.”

Rocky instantly challenges Drago to a match to avenge the murder of Apollo. Many people who have seen this movie say that this is where the movie becomes very predictable and cheesy. If you are one of those people who over-analyze and over-think movies, you will miss how entertaining this movie is. Drago is the perfect follow-up to Clubber Lang, who exchanges his loud-mouth, cocky attitude for his strength. Drago doesn't have many lines, but he says a lot with his facial expressions. You could compare this to a comic book by comparing Drago to one of the comic book supervillains, like Bane. Drago is very terrifying and you would fear for Rocky because if Drago killed Apollo, imagine if he did the same thing to Rocky and made this the last entry in the series. Even Rocky’s son, played by Rocky Krakoff, says, “If a big, giant man wanted to beat me up, I’d be really scared.” You said it best, kid, because I would agree with you.

Many people also complain that this movie loses what made the first movie so lovable, and I agree with them. However, this movie is lovable in its own way. This movie is full of montages with some of the best training scenes and one of the soundtracks that makes you want to go on a training montage of your own while listening to this soundtrack. I'm actually listening to the soundtrack right now while I'm typing up this review. Also, this is the only movie that Bill Conti did not compose the music. Instead, it’s the main composer from the “Transformers” animated movie, Vince DiCola. His training montage music and War are awesome, but Survivor also has some great songs in here, like Hearts on Fire, No Easy Way Out, and Burning Heart.

This is distant from the first movie and is a change in the atmosphere, but remember, Rocky is in Russia, not Philadelphia. He’s away from home, and trains with farming equipment, which makes him stronger than ever, and even runs up a mountain while shouting, “Drago” at the top. Duke is now helping Rocky train for this match, since Duke trained Apollo and is training Rocky in the same way he trained Apollo. It’s not as bad as everyone says it is. In fact, this movie makes your adrenaline rush and blood pump faster than it did in the third movie.

Now the only thing I have left to talk about is the match. Drago makes his entrance to Russia’s National Anthem, the intimidation starts with the eye contact, Drago says his famous line, “I must break you,” slams his gloves down on Rocky’s, and the match starts. Rocky quite possibly takes the worse punches he has ever taken in all his years of boxing. Drago doesn’t even let him stand for a second, but keeps knocking him on the mat or up against the turnbuckles. Apparently in Russia, there’s not three-knockdown rule, the referee must have not heard of a KO or TKO, so I guess the fight could go on until one of them kills one another. Also, how does Rocky survive all 15 rounds when Apollo only lasted two? Especially since Rocky takes “way” more punches than Apollo did. Who cares, it’s one of the best fights I have ever seen in a movie.

When I first saw James Rolfe’s review on the Rocky series, he said that this movie ended the Cold War. As I mentioned, since this is predictable, you could probably guess that Rocky wins the crowd over while the match is going on and wins in the last round by KO. Rocky gives a speech that eases the tension between the Russians and the Americans. However, a little note: this movie did not end the Cold War. It helped, but that’s not how it ended. It ended when Mikhail Gorbachev used all of the money on creating deadly, nuclear weapons, and caused Russia to go bankrupt. He tried to bring the economy up and bring democracy, but he thought that if he kept making weapons, it would help. Especially since Ronald Reagan ordered Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. Although Rocky’s speech was one of the best, especially with him saying, “If I can change and you can change, everybody can change.”

In the end, this is one of the most entertaining, macho movies ever made. You might say that this is over the top and ridiculous, but you’re missing the point. Real men love this movie, and it’s a ton of fun to watch. For those who say this is weird, stupid, and completely self-indulgent, you're missing the enjoyment of this film. There is a joy to the silliness and over-the-top ways. Yes, this isn't taken as seriously as the first two films, but you got to love the passion they put into this movie when trying to make it serious. Yes, it may not succeed at being serious, but it tried hard, and the energy and commitment that's put into this film is part of the fun, despite people saying it fails hard. I at least give them credit for at least trying, and you should to. This is one that you have to see, I highly recommend it, it’s better than two and three.

Look out tomorrow when I look at the weakest entry in the series in “Rocky Week.”

Rocky Week Part 3

Now we have come to “Rocky III,” released in 1982. This one isn’t as bad as everyone says it is. Sure, it changes direction from the first two movies, like Rocky’s humble character and bad eye are gone, and he’s a millionaire celebrity. However, this movie still has a lot of heart, and it’s similar to the comic book movies where they show a new opponent that comes around who is stronger and hungrier and momentarily defeats the hero, like “Superman II,” “Spiderman II,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” and “The Wolverine.”

The movie starts off with a montage of Rocky’s matches, but one of the most ridiculous scenes in the movie that has nothing to do with the rest of the movie, but is still entertaining, is when Rocky has a boxer vs. wrestler charity exhibition match. His opponent is Thunderlips, played by Hulk Hogan making a small cameo. There’s no restraint here. Thunderlips just pummels Rocky. Paulie jumps in to help, but that just makes matter worse with a riot starting, innocent people getting hurt, police officers get beat up, it’s pandemonium. However, like Rocky does every time, he fights back and it’s just fun.

At the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where the movie actually starts, Rocky has a statue dedicated to him, which is another popular Philadelphia tourist attraction. Just like how people run up the Art Museum stairs, everyday people line up and take photos with the statue. I actually took a photo of that statue with my iPhone after I ran up the steps, as you can see with the photo to your right.

Here, the band plays Gonna Fly Now, which I find strange as how does the band in the movie know the Rocky theme? Rocky announces that he is going to retire, but from the crowd, a loud-mouthed, vicious, hungry, cocky wrecking machine named James “Clubber” Lang, played by B.A. Baracus from “The A-Team,” Lawrence Tureaud aka the great Mr. T, challenges Rocky to a fight. He even tries to put the moves on Adrian. To Mickey’s disapproval, Rocky agrees to fight him. However, the man is such a beast that he doesn’t even wait until they get into the ring, he starts to attack Rocky in the locker room. In a pre-match riot, Mickey gets hurt and his heart is failing. Rocky can’t concentrate on the fight, loses the match and the title, Mickey dies, and it looks like everything is over.

If you think the movie is going to end right here, think again. In comes Apollo, who agrees to train Rocky for his rematch against Clubber Lang. Don’t you just love it when enemies become friends? You have to admit, it’s one of the greatest twists ever.

Overall, this movie takes the more action route compared to the first two films. Clubber Lang is one of the greatest villains ever. The first time you see him, you just hate the man and you want Rocky to win. This is just a huge buildup to the final match. For the first time, you will see the entire match with no time lapse montage. 

James Rolfe mentioned that this film “broke the delicate fabric that made the first two movies so great.” However, you have to know that this film is a very important chapter in the Rocky series. This movie introduced the famous Survivor song Eye of the Tiger, which I’m listening to right now. I just love the songs in the Rocky series. This song is a recurring theme in the movie, and my second cousin mentioned that this song was solely made for this movie. Also, this movie is responsible for introducing Mr. T and his signature catchphrase, “I Pity the Fool,” which he said so many times in “The A-Team.” The entire movie is just an adrenaline-rushing blast of entertainment. Ian Fried is playing Rocky’s son in this movie.

I can understand that people don’t really seem to get into this movie because it changed directions and wasn’t like the first two, but every franchise has changed its direction when it got more sequels. This one is no exception. I highly recommend you see this one, I think it’s better than the second movie, but that’s just my opinion. Also, Eye of the Tiger is one of songs I listen to a lot. My brother thinks that this song was in the first movie, but I keep reminding him that it was Bill Conti’s Gonna Fly Now, and that Eye of the Tiger was in the third movie.

With that said, check in tomorrow for more action-packed adventures in “Rocky Week,” where we’ll get into a hungrier and intense entry in the series, which will be exciting, I promise you that.

Rocky Week Part 2

Welcome back to “Rocky Week,” where we get to the A+ sequel, “Rocky II,” released in 1979. Everyone was surprised when the first movie was such a big hit, the same way Rocky raises to the challenge of impossible odds. The movie was a financial success and won the “Best Picture Award.” James Rolfe said that this is “perfectly fitting the definition of sleeper hit.” Now Sylvester Stallone is writing, starring, and directing this movie, and would be in control for the next three sequels. Stallone is the heart of the story and knows his character the best.

The movie picks up exactly where the first one left off. Apollo is furious over the results of the match, even though he won by split decision. Since Rocky did so well in the match, which no boxer ever went the distance with Apollo, he demands a rematch. Rocky says that he is retired since the doctors say that Rocky’s eye has been damaged from the match and is blind in that eye. Instead, Rocky and Adrian get married, and Rocky uses the profits from the match to buy stuff for both of them. Rocky buys a new car, jacket, jewelry, a house, which he doesn’t have to see the upstairs since he is reckless and blinded by his own happiness and positive outlook. It’s the opposite from the first movie since he was poor in that one, and here we see what happens when he has money.

However, Rocky realizes that he needs a job. He tries acting in commercials but that doesn’t work out since he can’t read due to his blind eye. He tries getting an office job which he doesn’t get, but lands a part-time job at Paulie’s meat factory, but gets laid off. When we see these relatable, everyday struggles, it makes the movie very charming. This movie is telling the story of Rocky trying to get back on his feet.

Since Apollo is taunting Rocky in the papers and on TV to rematch him over the anger that people have when they complain the match was rigged and since Rocky went the distance, and with Mickey constantly insisting he rematches Apollo, Rocky agrees. This makes sense since Rocky needs to make money, despite Adrian telling Rocky that she thinks he shouldn’t rematch Apollo. However, this will be difficult for Rocky since he has a bad eye, and Mickey has to wear a hearing aid. Rocky is a southpaw and needs to learn how to fight with his right hand due to his eye.

Unfortunately, Rocky is unable to focus on the training since Adrian is pregnant and he is really worried for her, which is understandable. She is even trying to help out by working more at the pet store, even though she shouldn’t because she is expecting their child. Then Adrian falls into a coma, and that really makes Rocky lose his focus. I won’t spoil the movie, but you should know after seeing the first movie that it will work out for him in the end.

Even though there is a lot of drama going on, there also is some humor to keep the movie light-hearted at times. This is probably the funniest in the series, like the part where Rocky tells Adrian that sometimes he looks at their dog and he doesn’t look like a normal canine, or when Rocky is trying to catch some chickens and says he feels like a “Kentucky Fried Idiot.”

Burgess Meredith really picks it up in this movie with all his grouchy, bitter yells at Rocky, making him one of the most memorable characters in the movie. Mickey also appears at the weirdest moments. Speaking of which, Apollo’s wife, Mary Anne Creed, played by Sylvia Meals, makes an appearance and also Stallone’s real-life son, Seargeoh, plays the baby, but is uncredited. Paul J. Micale plays Father Carmine, the priest Rocky goes to for prayers before the match.

Now I can’t talk about a “Rocky” movie without talking about the training montage. In this one, we get two montages back-to-back to Gonna Fly Now. Unlike the first one where we see him run alone, this time children are running with him. Where all these neighborhood kids come from is beyond me.

The last thing I have to mention is the rematch against Apollo. James Rolfe admits that even though this is a great movie, “the fight is a little hokey.” What he means to say is that Rocky just allows Apollo to punch him repeatedly in the face, and Rocky doesn’t even block it. The emotional impact is still in this fight. You still cheer for Rocky since a lot is at stake here, especially since he has a bad eye. This is also the first Rocky movie that uses the slow-motion shots during the fight.

Overall, it’s a sequel that stays faithful to the original; it furthers the characters and moves the storyline forward instead of backwards or repeating the same story. This is a perfect continuation and maybe the best sequel, but not as good as the first, but that is rare.

I still say that you should check this one out. It’s a good movie and I think that it was nice to tell the next story.

Stay tuned tomorrow when things really pick up with next installment in “Rocky Week.”

Rocky Week Part 1

Happy New Year online readers! To start off this year, I will be looking at two of my favorite franchises. First, I will be doing a whole week long marathon, then the remainder of the month I will be looking at the other on my usual Friday reviews. To kick off the New Year, let’s take a look at one of my favorite movies of all time, “Rocky,” released in 1976. After mentioning this movie a few times in past reviews, I think the time is right to review this series, especially since I saw "Creed" back in November. Just to think, this movie came out almost 40 years ago.

Sylvester Stallone wrote and starred in this movie, and it left a landmark in his career and in the movie world. Stallone plays the titular character, Robert “Rocky” Balboa. He’s a hard-living, but failing prize fighter who gets his face bashed in for a small amount of money. On the sides, he collects debt for a loan shark Anthony Gazzo, played by Joe Spinell. When Anthony orders Rocky to break a guy’s thumb if he doesn’t hand over the money, Rocky lets the man go, showing that he is a sympathetic guy. I do love it when Rocky yells out, “I should have broken your thumbs!” Even though on the outside he has a tough-guy demeanor, inside he’s a sweet, down-to-earth, sensible man. One night he sees a little girl named Marie, played by Jodi Letizia, hanging out with the wrong crowd. Being the sensible guy that he is, he walks her home, tells her to clean up her language, quit smoking, find the right friends, etc. This is proving how much of a heart of gold Rocky has. Although Marie tells him off before she walks into her house, but this is not the last time we see her.

Rocky is in love with the pet store owner, Adrianna "Adrian" Pennino, played by one of the greatest actresses of her time, Talia Shire. Adrian is a shy girl who doesn’t really date much, but Rocky can see that inside she is beautiful, despite the fact that no one really notices her like she is just nobody important. When they start dating, the famous one being in the ice rink, Adrian gains his trust and grows more and more close to him, like we do, and we get to see how hilarious Rocky is. Like Adrian, we get to be more sympathetic to Rocky’s character.

Adrian’s brother, Paulie, is played by Burt Young, another great actor. Paulie is an alcoholic, bitter, short-tempered, and unstable, but can be a good person when he tries to be. Despite all the badness Paulie has in him, Rocky still stays friends with him, even when Paulie becomes jealous of Rocky’s success, and Rocky tells Paulie he’ll promote his meat business. Speaking of meat business, Paulie agrees to let Rocky train in his factory by punching the bags of meat in the freezer, which is one of the best segments in the movie, and even makes the news.

Rocky approaches a trainer named Mickey Goldmill, a grouchy gym owner, played by the late Burgess Meredith. We see how broken down, bitter of a man he is since his days as a boxer are over. Mickey is the classic broken down mentor of this film.

Heavyweight boxing champion, Apollo Creed, played by the great Carl Weathers, comes to Philadelphia to pick a boxing match and can’t find anybody. He picks Rocky because of his boxing name, “The Italian Stallion.” At first, Rocky is intimidated, but agrees. This is great because a boxer like Rocky gets a chance at the heavyweight title, which doesn’t happen very often to underdogs. Also, Apollo is a very cocky man who loves to show how patriotic he is (he comes down to the ring in a George Washington uniform to prove it) and also thinks he can beat every boxer he gets in the ring with. Apollo’s character was influenced by the late Joe Frazier, who boxed Muhammad Ali three times.

What you got to love about this film is that nothing in this movie has any effects in it, but is all shot in Philadelphia. Of course, the famous training scene where Rocky runs up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Arts is one of the most famous scenes in any movie. I actually visited Philadelphia two summers ago and ran up those steps and stood in the exact spot Stallone stood when the montage is over, as you can see with the picture on the right that I took on my iPhone. I’m not alone, everyday people run up those steps and copy that training montage, set to the great Bill Conti’s song Gonna Fly Now. Believe it or not, I’m actually listening to the song while I’m typing this up. That segment, and Rocky punching the bags of meat, was taken from real-life exploits of Joe Frazier, but the man received no credit for it. Frazier actually makes a small cameo in this movie.

When everything is set and the fight is in motion, you are already rooting for Rocky, the underdog, because we can all relate to him, since he is one of the most relatable characters in movie history. How often do we get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we want to prove that we are somebody? This is what hits the audience members when they see this movie, which left its mark.

Pedro Lovell briefly plays Spider Rico, the first boxer we get to see Rocky fight. Also, the great Tony Burton plays Tony "Duke" Evers, Apollo’s trainer, manager, and friend. He doesn’t play a big part in this movie until later on in the series.

John G. Avildsen directed this movie and he really did a good job at making one of the best movies ever made. You got to love the direction they took this movie, especially with one of the greatest lines ever, “Yo, Adrian.” That is the first thing people think when they hear the “Rocky” title.

If you haven’t seen this movie, why are you reading my review? Go out to the library, go on your NetFlix, rent or buy the movie. It’s one of those movies you just have to see to believe. This leaves you with a good feeling and you have to see it to know what I’m talking about.

Check in tomorrow when I get to the first sequel in this franchise for “Rocky Week.”